Tom Kean Jr. Totally Talks to Press, Like, All the Time.

SOMERVILLE, NJ — “I do the most local press engagements of any NJ Member of Congress.” That’s what Tom Kean Jr. had to say just hours after news broke that the police were called on a New York Times reporter for trying to talk to the Congressman. In fact, the Congressman sent out a fundraising email boasting about the incident, essentially referring to the incident as ‘fake news’.

This pattern is not new. For decades, local press in New Jersey has lamented that Kean Jr. refuses to make himself accessible to members of the press or his constituents. Some of Tom Kean Jr.’s (greatest) hits include:

In 2006, The Record’s Trenton Bureau reported Tom Kean Jr. doing a “double time march for the elevators” to avoid answering questions.

In 2020, Kean refused to participate in an interview series with PIX11 News, “making him the only candidate to do so for this series.”

In 2022, the Star-Ledger Editorial Board took Tom Kean Jr. to task for refusing to answer whether or not “the Jan. 6 riot represented ‘legitimate political discourse.’”

In 2024, during his first term in Congress, the infamous elevator video emerged, where the Congressman refused to speak or even look at New Jersey Spotlight News reporter Ben Hulac.

In 2026, Tom Kean Jr. went missing for 117 days and missed 142 roll call votes. Only when he returned after nearly four months of silence from his office did he provide any answers regarding his whereabouts.

One would think the Congressman would make an effort to communicate with his constituents or the press, but in the weeks since his return, the opposite has happened. Along with calling the police on press, Tom Kean Jr. has barred reporters from events while letting in media from conservative outlets. He has been on the campaign trail, though what he says is a mystery.

Tom Kean Jr’s commitment to ignoring the press is rivaled only by his determination to avoid his constituents. He has never held a town hall.

New Jersey’s Seventh Congressional District deserves a representative who isn’t afraid to answer their questions or to talk to the press about issues facing the district. Tom Kean Jr. has proved time and time again that he is wrong for NJ-7.